Goldman Sachs has been charged with fraud:
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Goldman Sachs with defrauding investors by allegedly “misstating and omitting key facts” in the marketing of a financial product linked to the performance of subprime mortgages right as the housing crisis was beginning to unfold.
Essentially, Goldman made billions selling mortgage backed “collateralized debt obligations” (CDO’s), without informing investors that the hedge fund creating these shoddy securities was heavily shorting them in anticipation of their failure.
Which I suppose explains why Republicans so vehemently oppose Wall Street regulatory reform.
Caveat emptor!
Don’t be fooled by Goldy’s use the word Republican in his post. Do a little digging, as I did, and you will quickly find the truth. For example, the CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, gives exclusively to Democratic candidates:
http://www.campaignmoney.com/p.....p?cycle=08
Another fucking market failure! Want to know how stupid laissez-faire ideology is? Visualize what would happen on the streets without traffic cops. So-called “free market capitalism” is merely economic anarchy.
@2 Blankfein merely sold his stock in the Republican Party and bought stock in the Democratic Party. He didn’t get where he is by investing in losers.
Don’t be fooled by the idiot troll trying to obfuscate the main issue:
http://www.reuters.com/article.....YY20100416
Looks like the Republicans are going to have to pick sides concerning Wall Street and the big banksters and Main Street..
This will become even more telling as they attempt to oppose Obama’s SCOTUS pick.
Even teabaggers will no longer have an excuse for their actions. They’ll have to admit they are idiots, racists or both.
So because the head of Goldman Sachs gives exclusively to Democrat candidates, he must be a Democrat, himself. Yes, I believe that must be true.
The CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs is a Democrat.
re 2: You are like the man who accidentally dropped a $20 bill on a dark corner and went over to the other side of the street to find it because there was more light.
That’s the kind of confidence I have in your ‘digging’ for the facts.
@8
So you are agreeing with me that the head of Goldman Sachs is probably a Democrat?
So Goldman Sachs is accused of doing something wrong. Good. If they didn’t they have their day in court. If they did, they will pay the penalty.
This means the system works. We don’t generally penalize acts prior to commission in this country. Well, we haven’t yet, but under Obama, who knows? New regulation is shown not to be needed by this prosecution, under current law.
YLB, when will you admit that corrupt democrats had as dirty a set of hands in this as corrupt republicans. Or did you forget about Bawney Fwank?
@7 So, if you’re right (lol) then ALL Republicans will support fining Goldman Sachs and support reform regulation to stop this sort of “democratic” scheme from happening again. Right? When do you think the Republicans will start support this reform? Any ideas? Any names? ROTFLMAO
Hear that hammering sound? (blam, blam, blam, blam)
That’s the sound of voters driving yet another nail in the coffin of the Reagan Republican Culture of Corruption schemes that cost the American People THE most robust economy in the history of the world that was left by President Clinton.
Another reminder of how the Reagan philosophy of deregulation has hurt Main Street again to enrich Wall Street.
Another reminder of why Reagan Republican “ideas” of privatizing Social Security into the under-regulated Wall Street Casino Machine is a BAD idea.
Reagan Republicans: The party of HELL NO YOU CANT! and very bad ideas.
I can’t wait for the inevitable implosion of the GOP this fall.
God, please have the GOP nominate Mitt Romney in 2012 with HEAVY campaigning by the Teahadist Sarah Paliban. Please, please, God, remind the electorate how terribly stupid, corrupt and inept the GOP is at governing as a majority.
fail.
re 11: The Republicans aren’t entirely toothless when it comes to prosecuting Wall Street insiders.
Look what they did to Martha Stewart.
Pussy with a Slap-Chop sums up the Reagan Revolution in one word.
FAIL.
Good job, mornon.
Watch the “iinvisible hand” give us all the finger.
Well, looks like GS is being pummelled by investors. It’s a short-time thing, however. Goldman will be back.
And Troll is right in that the folks at Goldman give a lot of money to the Democratic Party. I suppose the give a bit to the Republicans, too, because they still want to survive no matter what political party in in power. There’ll be some financial regulation, but I don’t expect it to be much.
@15
What an obnoxious little tree-hugger you are… As much as I admire your service to our country GBS, you’re an asshole.
I-Burn @ 18:
Thank you, sir. I appreciate your recognition of my service to America. And I mean that will all sincerity.
One of the reasons why I served was to preserve your right to your opinion.
And, I wouldn’t disagree with you, at times I can be a really BIG ASSHOLE!
Oh, and Happy Friday.
It looks like $160 is the bottom. I think you’re right, Monday just might be a good time to buy GS.
Glad I wasn’t holding a long opotions position this month of GS.
Can you say “expires worthless”?
Republicans like Boener were saying just two days ago that any proposals to regulate the financial markets would result in more “bail outs” of failed banks. Of course, the bill isn’t even drafted yet, so he’s full of hot air, he doesn’t even know what’s going to be in it yet.
More importantly, he’s just quoting Republican Orwellian wordsmith Frank Lutz, who’s main contribution to public policy debate is to have focus groups figuring out which words resonate with voters and then applying them to political discussions, regardless of their applicability. Lutz was responsible for re-christening the neutral (and more accurate) term “estate tax” with an emotionally-laden and innacurate phrase “death tax”. He’s also the one to insist that Republicans blame Democrats for bank bailouts (ignoring the Republican contributions of lax oversight and hostility to regulation towards the problems).
Gee, these guys are so slimy they leave oil sheens behind them as they walk down the street.
Republican Congressman’s yearbook picture
Watching you guys and the Republicans eat each other has been great fun…
Whether you, or they, like it or not there are going to be lots more Libertarians in the Congress this fall.
Hank Paulson was the CEO at Goldman and the last I saw, he was in a Republican administration handing out billions of government dollars to his old company — much like Cheney and Halliburton.
re 23: Thank God!!! We could use more pot-smoking Republicans in congress!
@23 — I don’t understand why it has taken so long for people to realize the benefits of more Librarians in congress!!!
Whatever happened to the two million teabaggers that were supposed to descend on WA DC yesterday???
Looks like the Feds have been awfully busy lately.
Goldman-Sachs is charged with civil fraud for failing to disclose to investors that the securities they were selling before the 2008 economic collapse intentionally included very risky loans, and that the firm which packaged those loans was short-selling them at the same time.
Former Blackwater high executives (they left the firm last year shortly before the name change) were indicted for conspiring to commit firearms violations. These officers were big contributors to Republican campaigns, and in return made a fortune providing “security” services in Iraq and elsewhere in no-bid government contracts.
And a former mergers and acquisitions banker, Douglas Spink. who went bankrupt in 2002 after the dot-com bust and the post 9/11 crash, and who was subsequently caught smuggling large quantities of pot into the U.S. from Canada in 2005, was just arrested in Whatcom county for using his farm to run an international bestiality ring. Federal authories were involved because it violated his federal probation and there were apparantly international ties. Previously he was a horse trainer, and people commented on the “unusually close ties” he had with his horse. (No political affiliation was immediately discernable from the news reports).
Has anyone here besides me ever noticed that after I defeat Goldy in a debate in the comment section, he then quickly throws up some other posts to bury the evidence of his humiliating defeat?
All we’ve noticed that you’ve never won a debate, with Goldy or anyone else.
Emily @26 doesn’t know how to spell her name.
Of course, it’s the thought that counts, so…
Never mind…
Think of where we’d be if Bush had succeeded in handing management of the social security trust fund over to Wall Street.
My stock portfolio reached a new all-time high yesterday, surpassing the previous 2007 high by a couple hundred bucks. The market gave back ground today in response to the SEC charging Goldman Sachs with massive fraud, so it may take a few more trading days before I’m made whole, but there’s no question that stocks are the best investment in good times and bad. Nothing else comes close.
@7 “So because the head of Goldman Sachs gives exclusively to Democrat candidates, he must be a Democrat, himself. Yes, I believe that must be true.”
You’re certainly gullible enough to believe that.
Trollie couldn’t win an argument with his own reflection in the mirror.
@32,
“Think of where we’d be if Bush had succeeded in handing management of the social security trust fund over to Wall Street.”
Impossible to tell what would have happened if, decades ago, a person could direct where his or her SS contributions went rather than simply letting the government manage the funds. Should workers be given a choice as to where their social security money goes? Should they be allowed ownership of their own money?
re 36: 401 k’s lost a lot of money during this financial crisis — as would have the funds from a privatized social security.
See. That wasn’t impossible.